


Wish You Were Sober

by hellareyna



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/F, Half-blood Lavender Brown, I wrote this while listening to 90s girl power anthems, Implied/Referenced Racism, Marijuana, References to Madonna, Sibling Bonding, Underage Drinking, Wizards being stupid about Muggles, emetophobia warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28833048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellareyna/pseuds/hellareyna
Summary: It's the summer before sixth year and a war is brewing in the wizarding world, but that isn't stopping Lavender Brown from enjoying herself. The Patil twins are visiting for the weekend which means going to a Muggle party and having fun. But can Parvati fit into Lavender's Muggle life?Inspired by Conan Gray’s Wish You Were Sober, living in uncertain times, and me missing my friends.
Relationships: Lavender Brown/Parvati Patil, Padma Patil & Parvati Patil
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Wish You Were Sober

When Lavender had promised the Patil twins a weekend that would make them forget about everything horrible happening around them, namely the war, Parvati had been imagining a spa day or a slumber party. Maybe they would paint each other’s nails and Lavender would show them some of her mum’s Muggle films. They could have fun, just the three of them. She had not expected to have a guy throw up on her new trainers. 

She groaned again and then quickly made her way to a bathroom to clean up the mess. Preferably not the one currently occupied by the gentleman who just emptied his stomach onto her feet.

She found a small powder room hidden away. After a few knocks, the door opened to a couple who didn’t seem to appreciate the interruption. But when she pointed down at her shoes as an explanation they both winced and left her alone and went to go snog somewhere else. 

As she took her shoes off and rinsed them in the sink she cursed the Ministry of Magic’s policies on underage magic. After a few scrubs from the bar of soap and wipe downs with toilet paper she decided this was good as she was gonna get it for now. When Parvati had chosen these shoes she had wanted to look cute for whatever fun weekend Lavender had planned for them. She hadn’t expected this kind of danger.

Lavender’s idea of a fun weekend was a party that her Muggle cousins had told her about. The Pureblood twins had never spent much time around Muggles let alone gone to a party hosted by them so they’d naively agreed. It sounded like fun to spend time around people who had the carelessness one could only have while obliviously living during a war. However, this was not the type of party they had imagined.

Parvati had attended: family weddings, the Yule Ball, and even the Gryffindor celebration after they had won the Quidditch Cup back in her third year. None of those even compared to what she was currently attending. It seemed like everything her mum had ever told her not to do was now being done here. 

No adults were supervising and when Padma had asked Lavender where the host’s parents were she had just been laughed off. There was an ever-present smell that she couldn’t quite place, but it reminded her of the dung bombs the Weasley twins had liked to set off. Lavender had even taken a shot of some mysterious clear liquid within a minute of arriving.

After leaving the bathroom Parvati scanned around for her sister. She found her standing by a tall white boy who was enthusiastically talking at her. When Padma caught her sister’s eye she mouthed _help me_ making Parvati giggle. Although she had some experience with drunkenness at common room parties she suspected Ravenclaw House didn’t ever indulge. At least she wasn’t the most lost attendee here. 

“Hey there,” Parvati greeted both Padma, who looked pleased with her arrival, and the boy who had been pestering her.

“There’s two of you!” He slurred his words a bit.

They both laughed at his drunken surprise, “Yup. We’re twins.”

“Identical,” He gasped.

“Funny how that works isn’t it?” Parvati teased. 

He nodded, “And what’s your name beautiful?”

“Parvati.”

“Parvati and Padma Patil,” he giggled as if their names were hilarious, “P cubed.”

“Well, what’s your name?” Parvati asked. She had been looking for something to do at this party and chatting up this poor drunk Muggle boy was entertaining enough, so she just gave in to it.

“Patrick.”

“Patrick, Padma, and Parvati,” She pointed at each of them as she said their name, “Looks like we’re three P’s in a pod.”

He laughed at her joke a bit more than she supposed he would have had he been sober, but Padma smiled a bit too which was somewhat reassuring. She was always so tense. Although she hadn’t expected Lavender to bring them to this sort of party she was glad they were here. Maybe her sister would finally learn to loosen up a bit.

“Are you from around here? I think I’d remember girls who look like you.” Patrick asked them both.

“Nah, just staying with a friend here for the weekend. D’ya know Lavender?” Parvati answered, trying to ignore the racial undertones of his comment.

“Lavender,” He seemed to think for a moment, “Brown or Parsons?”

“Brown.” 

“Ah yeah, Libby Howard’s cousin, the one who goes to the fancy boarding school. Is that where you two know her from?”

Parvati could tell this question might lead to some more that she couldn’t answer but he seemed tipsy enough that he wouldn’t know if she was lying. She decided to just answer honestly until he hit one she couldn’t. That was usually what she’d seen her mum do when they’d gone to Muggle places.

“Yeah, we both go to school with her.”

This seemed to excite him for some reason, “Is it an all-girls school?”

Parvati couldn’t remember if Muggle boarding schools had both male and female students. Would he be suspicious if she said no? They shouldn’t have gone to a Muggle party; it was too complicated. 

“No, we have boys there too,” Padma answered after Parvati had fretted for too long.

This seemed to disappoint him, “D’ya have boyfriends?”

They both shook their heads, “Gotta focus on school. You know how it is.”

He nodded but it seemed like he probably did not know how it was. From the brief encounter, Parvati could not imagine Patrick studying or stressing over his marks in school. Perhaps she was being judgemental, but he had only a few minutes ago been surprised by the existence of identical twins.

“Parents real strict or something?”

“Not really. I just really love school,” Padma said, “I’d rather spend my time trying to get good marks.”

“I get that. I’m a bit of a science geek myself. I think I want to study chemistry at uni.”

Or maybe she was just judgemental.

“What’s chemistry?” Parvati whispered to her sister.

“I think it’s a bit like Potions,” Padma answered.

“Oh yeah I like science too,” Parvati answered as her brain raced for a class she took that she could explain to a Muggle, “I’m taking advanced Herbology next term.”

Padma cringed and Parvati realized she’d said something wrong. Maybe Hermione had been wrong and there _was_ some benefit to Muggle Studies.

“Herbology?” Patrick looked confused. Brilliant, her plan to trick a drunk boy had failed.

“She means botany,” Padma corrected with a nervous laugh, “You know plants and stuff?”

“Your school has advanced botany classes?” Padma’s correction hadn’t helped either as the boy still looked quite confused.

“It’s a specialized school,” Padma explained quickly, “We have all kinds of sciences. Astronomy, biology, chemistry, sickology, botany, all of it!”

“Sickology?”

“Like brains and stuff,” Parvati noticed her sister now seemed back in her element as she condescended to the boy.

“You mean psychology?” He condescended right back.

“Yeah that,” Padma said and then muttered a few curses under her breath.

“Do you like science too?” He asked Padma.

“No, I’m more into history.”

“Oh, what’s your favorite period to study.”

“Errrr,” Parvati could almost see the gears racing in her sister’s head, “I don’t know. Sorry. Bye.”

“Okay well,” He stumbled away, “nice meeting you girls.” 

Some other poor girls were now being pestered by him and it seemed he may be talking about the twins as he kept pointing at them as he spoke. Great, now they were the weirdos of the party.

“Well, that was a disaster,” Parvati remarked.

“You don’t know the half of it. I was freaking dying out here. It felt like an eternity listening to him drone on and on about football. Where were you?” Padma scolded her.

“Some guy fucking yakked on my trainers. I was in the bathroom trying to clean it off.”

They both glanced down at her formerly white shoes that had a sort of beige tint to them now. Parvati feared they would also have a permanent smell that the party’s various odors were currently covering up. Hopefully, her mum wouldn’t notice the difference.

“I hate summer holiday,” Padma groaned, “I’d be able to clean those up perfectly _and_ in no time if we were back at school.”

“We’ll be back in a few weeks.” 

“Not soon enough,” Padma growled.

“Are you truly that eager to start NEWTs?” Parvati tried to hide her disgust.

“Yes!” Padma snipped, “I hate having my OWLs results, but nothing to do with them.”

“Well, maybe you can think of this as a good experiment for Muggle Studies? I bet Burbage would love to hear about this.”

At that, Padma’s eyes brightened, not sensing her sister’s sarcasm, “That’s a brilliant idea. I should be taking notes on this. Blimey, I should have brought my quill.”

Parvati rolled her eyes at her sister’s dorkiness as she continued going on about the academic merits of attending Muggle parties. Bored, she looked around at the party again. 

There was a group of people dancing in an empty area in the living room. She wanted to join but she didn’t know any of the songs and they all seemed to be screaming along. The only Muggle music she knew was music her mum played around the house or the stuff they danced to at family weddings. That probably wasn’t relevant to any English house party. They seemed to be only playing pop.

A few people were chatting over the music and drinking on the couches. The two armchairs both had couples snogging. She was starting to worry about Lavender, who she hadn’t seen in a while now.

“Have you seen Lavender?” Parvati asked her sister.

“No, I thought she was with you?”

She shook her head, “I lost her after that guy puked on my shoes. She had to clean him up or something.”

Padma scrunched up her face, “Why would she do that?”

“Said he was her old friend or something. Felt like she had to help I guess,” Parvati shrugged. 

Honestly, she hadn’t understood why either. It was probably just because Lavender was nice like that. She helped out even when she wasn’t needed. Padma just didn’t know her as well.

“You should find her. I want to go to bed but I can’t remember the way to get back to her house.”

“Why should I be the one who finds her?”

“She’s _your_ friend.”

“ _You’re_ the one who wants to leave.”

“And you want to stay?” Padma raised an eyebrow at her sister, “Next time Lavender invites us anywhere make sure to ask follow-up questions.”

She had a point. They were very clearly the odd ones out at the party as they both stood awkwardly off to the side. Neither of their outfits was quite right. The music was too loud. It smelled bad. She’d already been barfed on. 

“I think we should give it a chance. I had fun earlier with Lavender.”

“All right,” Padma groaned, “But if anyone gets sick anywhere near _me_ , I’m leaving.”

“That’s fine. I’m going to get a punch.”

She walked back through the house to the kitchen. On the counter, there was a large glass bowl out of which people were ladling a reddish-orange drink. She’d seen Lavender drinking some earlier so she decided it couldn’t be too terrible. Still, she took a few sips before she filled the cup up entirely. It didn’t taste strong, but she wanted to be careful so she drank slowly.

“Is that any good?” Padma asked once she returned to the other side of the house. Before she could answer her sister she had already taken it from her hands and drank a swig, “Ack, that’s terrible. What’s in it?”

“Alcohol. And some fruit juices I think.”

“Alcohol?” Her eyes widened, “Parvati! you’re not of age. What are you doing?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem to be stopping anyone else here,” Parvati gestured around at the room full of teenagers drinking.

“But still,” Padma chided, “You shouldn’t.”

“I see my suspicions about shitty Ravenclaw parties were right,” Parvati mumbled to herself.

“You mean you’ve done this before?” Her sister gasped.

Before Parvati could answer they were both interrupted by a loud shout, “Parv, Pads, where have you been all night?”

The twins both turned to the voice to see a giggling Lavender Brown racing towards them with a beer in her hand. She hugged them both and only spilled a bit of the drink, but her fluffy blonde hair was now in both their faces making it so Parvati had to cough out a strand or two.

“I was looking for you,” Parvati answered, still a little annoyed she’d been abandoned by her friend earlier, “You left me after that guy vomited.”

“Oh yeah,” Lavender laughed, “Sorry about Eoin. He’s a great guy, but he’s a lightweight.”

“Apparently,” Parvati grumbled.

It was then she noticed the girl standing by Lavender’s side. She had tanned skin and a short blonde bob.

“Hi, I’m Padma,” Her sister said as she reached out her hand to the other blonde who took it, albeit awkwardly, and shook it.

Lavender seemed to realize she’d forgotten to introduce them, “Sorry girls I’m a bit knackered. This is my cousin, Libby. She’s the one who invited me. Libby, this is Parvati and Padma, my friends from school.”

They both looked one another up and down. Parvati felt as if she was being inspected. She was now even more self-conscious of her lousy attempt at Muggle clothes. 

“Oh, we met your friend, Patrick,” Padma said. 

She clearly didn’t have any of the same hesitations as her sister. Maybe her brain didn’t have space left over for anxieties?

Libby laughed, “Patrick?” Padma pointed him out across the room as if to confirm, “Oh God I’m so sorry about him. He doesn’t know how to act when he drinks. Gets way too flirty.”

“He wasn’t too bad,” Padma said, although she was clearly lying.

“I think we might have scared him off,” Parvati said.

“How come?” Lavender asked.

“He started asking about school stuff. Got a bit awkward”

Lavender nodded as though she understood. Parvati supposed that she must since having Muggle family and neighbors probably meant she had a lot of conversations with questions she couldn’t quite answer. There would always be subjects others wouldn’t understand.

“So what happened after you cleaned up Eoin?” Parvati asked, hoping she didn’t sound whiny, bringing it up again.

“Oh me and Libs went out for a smoke in the back garden,” Lavender answered casually.

Parvati hadn’t known Lavender smoked but she supposed that things like that were bound to happen at parties. Padma was much more shocked. She looked as though she was about to say something judgemental before her sister gave her a slap on the arm and a stern look.

“And then she flirted with Rory,” Libby giggled teasing her cousin.

“Stop it,” Lavender said bashfully, “We were just talking.”

“Uh-huh, and when you were _just talking_ you giggled at every other thing he said.” Libby teased her.

Lavender blushed. Parvati found herself suddenly very uncomfortable. She didn’t like it when Lavender talked about boys. They’d always disagreed about that. 

“Ooh, I love this song. Come on let’s dance,” Lavender said, pulling Parvati along with her to the makeshift dance floor as a new song started. 

The music had a beat that Parvati found easy to dance to so she just let herself relax and hoped she wasn’t embarrassing herself. It wasn’t like anyone’s moves were particularly refined in the small living room space. This kind of dancing was far from what she’d done with Harry at the Yule Ball.

As she danced, Parvati tried not to spill her drink but eventually, she resorted to just chugging it down so she could toss the plastic cup. She noticed Lavender didn’t have any problem not spilling her beer while she danced recklessly.

Lavender dancing by her side helped her feel less out of place. She just had to follow what her friend was doing: dance along to the music, laugh at the jokes, and smile at the right people. Even, Padma was starting to look like she was enjoying herself as she sat on a couch and chatted with a Muggle girl over the music.

“I swear, Madonna is a fucking genius,” Libby laughed as she began singing along to the song.

“Who’s Madonna?” Parvati asked Lavender.

Libby stopped her singing. Her eyebrows had risen as if Parvati had snakes coming out of her ears. Once again, Parvati had made the wrong move around Muggles.

Lavender cringed but tried to keep her smile, “How much have you had to drink Parvati? You know, like Material Girl and Vogue? Madonna!”

She didn’t, but she supposed if she didn’t want to alarm anyone she would just have to lie, “Oh yeah, of course, Madonna duh,” She attempted to sound sincere but the words felt like nonsense.

She continued dancing while Lavender joined in on the singing. Parvati attempted to sing along to the chorus but she couldn’t catch all the words. 

“You know, you know, you've got to make him express how he feels,” Lavender and Libby passionately scream-sang the words into each other’s faces as they jumped up and down laughing.

It seemed like Lavender existed in two worlds. In this one, Parvati just wasn’t part of the equation because no matter how hard she tried she would never understand. She looked on at the two blondes dancing and laughing together with envy. Perhaps it was just that they were cousins and had grown up together, but even that reminded her how there were parts of Lavender she wouldn’t ever grasp.

The music stopped eventually and Parvati felt less at ease than she had before. There was nothing she could do to make herself fit in and she certainly didn’t want to embarrass Lavender. 

“Henry, I didn’t take you for a Madonna fan,” Libby teased the boy who was changing the discs out of some sort of music system that Parvati couldn’t understand. 

He put his hand on the back of his neck as he attempted to hide his blush, “Don’t judge a book by its cover Howard.”

“So I shouldn’t think you’re coming on to me right now,” Libby flirted back.

“Well, I don’t know about that.”

Libby winked at Lavender and Parvati, “Don’t wait up ladies,” She walked over to the boy and they began chatting while standing quite close to each other. 

Now there was no music to dance to or a cousin to be entertained by, Lavender grabbed Paravti’s hand and began to pull her through the house. She pretended not to hear Padma’s cries to not be left alone again. Parvati ignored her sister and allowed her friend to lead her. She trusted her.

It seemed that Lavender’s end goal had been leading her out to the back garden. There was small group smoking around a bonfire which seemed redundant. Wasn’t one source of smoke enough?

Parvati shivered. It was mid-July but the late-night chill still made her wish she had brought a jumper.

“Isn’t this brilliant?” 

“The party?”

Lavender nodded and Parvati considered the question. The dancing had been alright until she’d exposed her lack of knowledge in Muggle culture. At least the punch had been good. 

“Padma said she wanted to take notes for her Muggle Studies professor.”

Lavender laughed, “Yeah I guess I didn’t really think about her when I invited you to the party.”

Parvati’s heart fluttered, “I think she’s having fun now. She was chatting with a girl who didn’t look too bored.”

“Yeah, but are _you_ having fun?” Lavender tilted forward and Parvati wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or not.

“I think so. I liked the music they played. Sorry I didn’t know any of it.”

“That’s alright. Sometimes Libby talks about Muggle stuff and I have to pretend I understand it all. I miss a lot of stuff when I’m at school.”

“Lavender Brown is behind on pop culture?” Parvati pretended to be shocked, “I can’t believe it.”

“I have _two_ worlds to keep up with,” Lavender faked offense, “I need to know about Take That _and_ The Weird Sisters.”

“What’s Take That?” Parvati wanted to understand her world too.

“They’re some boy band Libby’s obsessed with. She thinks they’re all dreamy.”

“Are they?” 

“What?”

“Are they dreamy?”

“I dunno I’ve only heard them on the radio with her. I haven’t seen them on TV or anything.”

“Why’d you take me out here, Lav. It’s a bit chilly,” She liked that they were alone where the music wasn’t too loud, but she wasn’t sure why they had to come outside by all these smokers.

“It felt stuffy inside.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s nice. Some nice fresh, smoky air.” She teased.

Lavender laughed and then looked over at the group of smokers who had a smelly cloud surrounding them. They were passing a cigarette around the group.

“Don’t tell Libby I said this but smoking was fucking disgusting.” 

Parvati laughed, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

“I thought I would like it because Libby said weed wasn’t as bad as cigarettes but it was even worse. It tasted _so_ bad.”

Weed. Parvati realized that must have been the dung bomb smell she couldn’t recognize. That also explained why Lavender was acting so strange.

Lavender seemed to be losing her ability to fake sobriety that she usually could maintain when they snuck in fire whiskey at the Gryffindor parties. It wasn’t just the way she was leaning. It was how open she was being. She usually seemed above it all. Especially at parties. Now, she was almost vulnerable.

“Is it weird being here with me?”

“A bit,” Lavender shrugged, “Like, all these people just know me as the Brown girl who is away at boarding school all year. Some of them I went to primary school with or go to my mum’s church. It’s weird having someone who knows the truth, someone who knows the real me.”

“I’m sorry I made it weird.”

“Don’t. I was the one who invited you. I guess I didn’t consider how different the two halves of my life can be. Especially now. Sometimes I just want to stay in this world.”

Parvati nodded, she didn’t like thinking about the war. Nobody did. At least last year she could go to Harry’s lessons or laugh at Umbridge and feel like she was doing something. Now she was just stuck at home with the knowledge that terrible things were happening all around her but without the ability to do anything about them. 

Every day she opened the Prophet to see more people had gone missing. Padma would read her articles about resistance from the Quibbler but it felt far away. It felt like something from a history book. Her head hurt just thinking about it, but that could have been the alcohol from the punch kicking in.

“It’s nice out here,” Parvati said looking up to the night sky, “You can see more stars than back in London.”

“It’s not like the stars at school,” Lavender looked up, “I feel like I can see the entire universe when I’m up in the Astronomy Tower.”

“I can see some constellations at least. Look there’s Pisces,” Parvati said as she leaned into Lavender so she could see where her finger was pointing.

“Where’s Taurus?” Lavender leaned in closer.

“That’s not your sign.”

“But it’s yours” Lavender whispered into her ear, “What do you think the stars have in store for you?”

“Probably something awful,” she joked trying to back away from her friend, “I’ve already been puked on once tonight.”

“Can’t get worse than that can it?” Lavender smiled, still leaning into her.

“It can always get worse,” She deadpanned.

“Aw, Parvati there’s no need to be such a pessimist. We’re here to have fun, come on.”

Lavender skipped over to the bonfire where the other outside partygoers had congregated. Even though it was smoky she kinda understood the appeal once the warmth hit her. It wasn’t so bad once she put her hands out to the flames. 

“Lav where were you?” A tall pale boy with long hair came over to greet her with a hug that she accepted, “I missed you.”

His stupid long hair and the way he called her _Lav_ made Parvati want to cringe. The way he looked at her when they parted made her stomach turn. It wasn’t as if boys at school didn’t look at her in that way, but boys behaved differently when they knew being less than polite meant being on the wrong end of a Confundus charm. 

“I was just inside Rory, no need to panic,” Lavender giggled.

She rolled her eyes at the giggling. This must be the Rory that Libby had been ribbing her about earlier. Her head started to hurt again.

“Who’s this?” He pointed at Parvati as if she couldn’t hear him.

“I’m Parvati,” She said and then stuck her hand out.

“You’re not from around here are you?” He asked ignoring her outstretched hand.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” She knew why “But no, I’m from London.”

“Ooh, city girl huh?” He said with a fake posh voice.

Parvati rolled her eyes again. This boy was exhausting.

“She’s a friend from school,” Lavender said, “Just visiting the suburbs for the weekend.”

“Your boarding school?” Lavender nodded as he continued, “Honestly up until now I’d thought it was a reform school, but if this posh bird goes there too it must be fucking swanky.”

Lavender laughed but Parvati didn’t think he’d said anything funny. In fact, it seemed rude to imply a girl was going to a reform school. Especially a girl like Lavender who cried when they had had to dissect flobberworms in Care of Magical Creatures. 

“Do you want a hit?” He proffered a cigarette to Lavender that Parvati assumed didn’t just contain tobacco.

“Sure,” Lavender said with a smile.

She took it from his hands and then inhaled with the joint between her lips. Just when she looked like she might burst she took it out and coughed out a cloud of smoke. Parvati winced at the pained coughs.

“You alright?” She asked and put her hand on her friend’s back to steady her.

“She’s fine,” Rory answered for her, “The first hit is always the worst.”

Lavender smiled, albeit weakly, at her friend, “It wasn’t too bad.”

“Are you sure?” Parvati asked.

She nodded, “Do you want to try?” She offered her the joint she had just smoked.

“No, I’m good.”

“Aw come on Parvalli just one hit.” Rory nagged, “Don’t be a prude.”

“It’s _Parvati,_ and I said no,” She huffed.

She considered walking back inside to find Padma and then leaving. Although, they still needed Lavender to find their way home even though she doubted if she was sober enough to do that.

“No need to be a bitch,” he mumbled.

Before Parvati could slap him or curse him out, she wasn’t sure which was preferable, Lavender spoke up, “You know, you’re kind of a dick.”

“Excuse me?” 

You’re a dick. Just because you’re hot doesn’t mean you get to treat girls like shit.”

“What?”

“Are you daft?” Parvati laughed, “She told you to fuck off.”

“Also your weed was shit.”

“Fucking reform school bitches,” He spat.

“We’re actually just witches,” Lavender snorted. 

She grabbed her friend by the wrist and left as he began yelling more profanities at them. The two girls gleefully raced inside. They ran through the crowded house to find Padma still chatting with the Muggle girl.

“Padma, we gotta go,” Lavender called between her laughs

“What? But Melanie was just telling me about the tello,” Padma cried out.

“You mean the telly?” A girl, she assumed was Melanie, asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh yeah,” Padma blushed.

“I’ve got a telly at home,” Lavender said, “C’mon.”

Padma groaned something about never getting to do anything she wanted but still followed them out the front door. 

“Fuck that guy was a prat,” Parvati exclaimed into the night.

“Yeah sorry,” Lavender said.

“Wasn’t your fault,” Parvati replied.

“I’m sorry, but what the heck just happened?” Padma asked clearly still confused.

Parvati and Lavender looked at one another and laughed. They explained how the Rory that Libby had talked about was actually a bit of a prick. Actually, a total prick Lavender corrected. 

“Why were you flirting with him if he’s an ass?” Parvati asked what she’d been wondering for a while.

“He wasn’t such an ass back in primary school,” She shrugged, “Besides it’s not like I was gonna marry him. It was just a bit of fun.”

“I don’t understand that,” Padma said.

“What do you mean?” Lavender said.

“Well, just flirting for the fun of it. Seems a bit mean.”

“What do you think you’re gonna marry every guy you fancy?” Parvati teased.

“Well, I certainly hope so.” 

“You seriously want to marry _Dean_?” Parvati prodded.

“Parvati!” Her sister whined, “I told you that in confidence.”

“No need to be embarrassed,” Lavender said, “He’s fit. Although he is dating Ginny Weasley.”

“He is?” Parvati was now taken aback, “I thought she was dating Michael Corner.”

“No, he’s with Cho Chang,” The Ravenclaw said disappointedly, “Fuck. I really thought I had a shot with Dean.”

Parvati didn’t think she’d ever heard her sister swear before. She hadn’t realized how serious she’d been about Dean.

“A girl can dream,” Lavender said.

“Lavender you could get any guy you wanted,” Padma said.

“Not my latest crush. He’s so tall and he’s the Keeper now and he’s just so perfect. I bet he’ll have girls swarming him by September.”

“Ron?” Both Patil twins practically squawked. 

“What do you think I don’t have a chance?” She looked between the sisters anxiously.

“No, I-”

Padma cut her sister off, “I think you have way more than a chance. He’s dull and awkward and terrible. Not hard to be better than that.

Apparently, Padma had not forgiven Ron for their disastrous date at the Yule Ball in the fourth year. It was a sore subject for her. Parvati remembered enjoying the night but only because she hadn’t spent much more than the required time with Harry and had instead danced with Lavender and Padma. 

Padma and Lavender continued arguing about whether or not Ron was actually dull and awkward. Lavender insisted he was dreamy, especially since he had joined the Quidditch team.

Parvati tried not to listen to Lavender describe how much she wanted to kiss him. Padma brought up how there were plenty of other Quidditch players at Hogwarts that weren’t boring. This led to Lavender declaring Padma had no ground to stand on as she was a Ravenclaw, which then meant another argument on whether all Ravenclaws actually were boring.

“I’m going to bed. Something I should have done hours ago,” Padma said once they reached the Brown’s house.

“Good night,” Lavender and Parvati said while she went inside quietly.

“Do you want to stay out here a bit?” Lavender asked Parvati.  
  
“Yeah,” She looked up at the night sky, “It’s nice out.”

“I’m starting to think you only decided to visit me to see the stars.”

“Oh yeah,” Parvati joked back, “This friendship has actually been an elaborate five-year-long scheme for me to finally be to see what the stars look like in the suburbs.”

Lavender gasped and then after a pause, they both started laughing.

“You know, you never said who _you_ have a crush on,” Lavender said.

She hoped that she didn’t hear the shake in her voice when she said, “You know I don’t care about that kind of stuff.”

“Of course you do,” Lavender insisted as she began taking steps towards her friend, “Everyone gets crushes, and besides what’s the point of an O in Divination if you don’t use it to find love?”

“It’s not like I can divine them into falling in love with me.”

The blonde glanced up to her as she said, “I suppose not.”

They were so close now that she could feel Lavender’s breath against her own. It would be so easy to take just one step closer. So she closed her eyes and took a step. 

She wasn’t sure if she had been the first to tilt her head forward. It was hard to think clearly as her head was swirling. All she could think about was Lavender’s lips on her own. For so long she had wanted this and now it was actually happening. It was surreal.

But then Lavender opened her mouth and the taste of beer burned Parvati’s tongue. She pushed her off frantically. The moment had been ruined.

“Lavender stop. You’re drunk.”

“No, I’m not,” she whined.

But her words were undercut when she nearly tripped on the pavement as she tried to lean back into Parvati. 

“Come on we should get you inside. You’ll feel better if I get you some water and we go to bed.”

“Why don’t you want to kiss me?” She cried out.

“You’re drunk, I don’t want you to regret this tomorrow.”

“You drank too.”  
  
“I had one punch. You had a punch and beers and shots and weed.”

“Why don’t you want to kiss me?” She repeated and then sat down on the dewy grass in the garden as she continued to pout.

“I thought you wanted to kiss Ron?” Parvati tried to distract her while her own heart thudded. 

“Why can’t I want to kiss both of you?” She looked up at Parvati.

Her eyes looked so sincere it made Parvati pause until she looked closer and saw the redness. She didn’t really mean that. This wasn’t real. If she were sober, this wouldn’t be happening. That was just a fantasy.

She wouldn’t let herself fall for a fantasy. That would only end in more pain. Instead, she would hold herself together. She would try to forget how nice Lavender’s lips had felt against her own and how for a moment everything had been perfect.

Parvati sighed, “Let’s go inside.”

Lavender groaned but relented. She stood and took her friend’s hand. Parvati tried not to react too much to the touch. Hand in hand they went around to the back door as not to wake Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

As quietly as possible they walked through the first floor even though every step seemed to creak. In the kitchen Lavender let Parvati give her a glass of water that she drank dutifully. She thanked her.

Then she led her upstairs and into Lavender’s bedroom where Padma was already fast asleep. She was still in her jeans. 

“My mum brought out some sleeping bags from the linen closet,” Lavender said pointing to the pile beside her bed, “We can just sleep on the floor.”

“I can wake Padma if you want your bed,” Parvati offered.

She shook her head, “I feel bad about dragging her to the party. She should get to keep the bed.”

Parvati nodded. For a moment she wondered if she felt bad about anything else that had happened that night, but she pushed the thoughts away. She had promised herself she would forget about it.

“I can set up the blankets while you wash up,” Lavender offered in a tone that almost sounded apologetic.

Parvati went to the bathroom where she changed into some pajamas and brushed her teeth. As she went to wash her face she was struck by her own reflection. She looked exhausted. A glance at the clock reminded her it was well past midnight. Maybe she could blame it on that. 

“Bathroom’s free,” Parvati whispered when she returned to the room. 

Lavender went to wash up and Parvati made herself comfortable in the pile of blankets and sleeping bags. It had been a long night.

As she laid down on the floor and stared at the pink wall she felt tears well up in her eyes. She had liked Lavender since her third year. It had been almost three years now of aching for a moment just like tonight. But tonight hadn’t been what she wanted.

Being a drunk mistake hurt so much more than not being anything. Why couldn’t she have kissed her before she’d been opened up by the alcohol and weed? _Oh, Lavender_ , she thought as the tears fell down her cheeks, _I wish you were sober._

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, this is angsty? Pls, remind me to never again write a fic that relies so heavily on pop culture I know nothing about. I’m an American who wasn’t alive in 1996. All pop culture references here are based on Spotify research and Derry Girls. I’m honestly mad I care about accuracy because I wanted to include Spice Girls in this but their first album came out four months after this is set. Still, I listened to a lot of Spice Girls while writing!
> 
> Fun fact! In researching for this I learned that skunks are only native to North America so I had to find a different way to describe the smell of weed!
> 
> Also! Fuck jkr and her transphobic garbage


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